A MYSTERIOUS nest containing large, unidentified eggs caught pupils’ imaginations in Farndon.
The arrival of the giant nest with three large blue eggs appeared without warning in the grounds of Farndon Primary School on Tuesday, with Year 5 teacher Rob Brown interrupting a singing practice assembly to tell children of the exciting development.
Youngsters of all ages gripped by this discovery started guessing about what the eggs contained, with ideas ranging from dinosaurs and crocodiles to radioactive crows and giant elephant birds.
The children wrote Chronicle news reports, created video news, designed an animal observation building in ICT classes and wrote letters to the WWF asking for support.
The mystery deepened on Wednesday as a scientist visited to take photos, measurements and samples. Phoning from the lab, the scientist confirmed the DNA samples taken showed it was a previously unknown species.
That same day, children arrived to discover the creature had dragged and spilt the contents of a bin bag across the playground, presumably in the act of looking for food.
Thursday brought the worrying discovery of one of the eggs having gone missing. It is still unknown whether it hatched or was stolen.
Later that day, the safari ranger from Chester Zoo visited the school. She visited the nest site and worked with the children, telling them all about eggs and the animals that lay them.
Unfortunately she could not identify the eggs and thought the zoo should be involved in protecting the species.
However, on Friday, the two remaining eggs had hatched with the evidence of broken shells found, but there was no sign of the animals.
